Can you feed fruit pulp to livestock?

Is it possible to use fruit pulp after the pressing to feed livestock? Do you think it would need to be kept frozen to use over a period of time, or could it be silaged by itself or with other material? It seems to me that if you produce a good deal of pulp, it would be a good source of feed.

— Steve Fields
Metuchen, New Jersey

Fruit pulp can be used to feed livestock, but if it is high in sugar, like apple pulp, it needs to be fed quickly, or ensiled with plenty of extra fiber to minimize ethanol production. Mixing apple pulp with 15 percent to 30 percent straw works fairly well. If pulp is going to be a large component of a feeding program, some nutritional analysis should be made, and it really needs to be ensiled for ruminants. Freezing might work on a small scale … it might be a big hassle too.

Chickens, hogs and ruminants would all likely consume the materials fresh, some with more relish than others. There is no problem throwing pumpkins, squash, apples, pulp, etc. into a feeder for your home flock or herd, but it should only be used as a supplement to good pasture, hay or other balanced feed.

One more thing … dried apple pulp can be pelletized and stored/fed pretty conveniently.

— Oscar H. Will III, editor, Grit magazine

Comments

AnnClaire Ketron 1/8/2010 12:53:00 PM

All I know is that if the chickens don't get to it first, even the dogs and cats will stroll over and look over the offerings ... they will eat fruits, grains and vegetables at times, too.
It is funny to watch the chicks knocking each other 'out of the running' when I call them for a special treat ;-)
Jack Veggie 1/6/2010 8:13:30 PM

The two comments below that talk about hens stopping laying after eating fruit are suspicious, not verifiable by any google search I tried, and contradict my experience. Our flock of chickens eat fruit 2 times a week when we bring fruit scraps home from the local farmers market fruit bowl vendor. The laying hens do not stop at all.
Sandra 1/6/2010 7:23:47 PM

My hens are crazy for pumpkin!
john fhean 1/6/2010 6:15:33 PM

gardener in survival
Cherlynn 1/6/2010 11:29:23 AM

I feed my laying hens apple pulp, pumpkin and plum scraps this fall pretty steady for several weeks along with their regular feed and free ranging. They ate it and loved it and no change in egg laying. But my lot of 18 hens are pretty tough old birds! Somewhere in the middle of all our snow and sub zero temps I thought they'd stop laying but we're still getting 18 eggs each day.
Heather Thompson 1/6/2010 10:48:06 AM

We fed fruit/veggie scraps to our hens and had no decrease in egg production. We did not substitite scraps for their normal feed. Our chickens are free range and are used to getting insects and weeds as part of their diet.
Gardener Ed 1/6/2010 9:06:33 AM

People that keep livestock probably already know that dietary surprises can cause digestive problems like colic in horses and bloat in ruminants. Goats and mules may have an innate wisdom to avoid excessive amounts of novel or new foods. It is always a good idea to introduce new feedstock gradually.
pam 1/6/2010 8:53:57 AM

I feed leftover fruit and veggies to my ducks and chickens, and they continue to lay just fine, they love apple peels, veggie peels, bananas that get too soft, oranges, in the winter when they don't have weeds and grass they seem to really appreciate the treats.
JULIUS INGWEYE 9/14/2009 10:02:26 AM

I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON A PHD THESIS THAT INVOLVES FEEDING GMELINA ARBOREA FRUIT PULP TO ALBINO RATS AND RABBITS.CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH REFERENCE MATERIAL?
Nanette T 6/4/2009 11:18:45 AM

I don't feed fruits or fruit byproducts to my chickens. They're too fussy. I do feed it to my goats and hogs and horses. Ever watch one of these go 'crazy' over fresh rinds?? Absolutely hilarious!! At work I have people saving me left over fruits and thus can suppliment my animals with treats!
martin gardner 2/27/2009 12:09:30 PM

If you feed fruit to any laying hens , they will stop laying and take as much as 4 - 6 weeks to start laying again. I know this from expierience and also from reading a booklet from the N.C. Dept. of agriculture . I hope this will steer anyone from feeding fruit to their layers .
S. Gardner
Scott Gardner 2/27/2009 12:08:52 PM

If you feed any fruit to any kind of laying hens , they will stop laying and take 4 - 6 weeks to start back . This is from expierience and from the N.C. Dept of Agriculture . I hope this helps .
Scott G .

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